Page 160 of Just for the Plot

“Anyway, shall we, uh…text him?”

“Don’t mind the growls,” Maple says, sitting back down on my lap and placing a soft, promising kiss on my lips that soothes me. “You know how he can get.”

“I do,” OC answers, eyeing me still.

I go back to the text thread and read Bennett’s reply.

Bennett:I know you’re going to fucking hate this, Graydon, and you might block me after the ask, but I’m desperate and you should know I’d never ask you to do this unless I was desperate.

“Oh shit, what is he going to ask?” OC asks, before taking another bite of his muffin and crossing one leg over the other, acting as if he’s watching a soap opera play out on his phone. “The anticipation is killing me.”

Our phones buzz.

Bennett:Could you ask Cougar where he thinks his relationship with Bower is? And ask if he’s kissed her? Or fucked her? Or touched her? Or fucking anything? I need to know what’s going on.

“Absolutely not.” I shake my head and set my phone down.

“Graydon,” Maple says with disappointment.

“Really, man. You can practically hear the squeak of desperation in his voice from that one text. It probably took a lot out of him to make that ask. If he asked me, I’d do it.”

“Because you’re a gossiping ninny with nothing better to do than insert yourself into your acquaintances’ lives.”

OC’s face falls flat. “Acquaintance? Really? That hurts.” He leans forward and adds, “Also, ‘ninny’ is a great word, not even offended. Delighted, actually.”

“Jesus Christ. Maple, make this end.”

She rubs my chest and softly says, “I think you should do it.”

My eyes zero in on hers as I try to convey to her that’snothappening, but of course, she doesn’t take shit from me, and she leans in close to my ear and says, “You know that thing you’ve been wanting to do with me? If you do this for Bennett, the answer is yes.” And then she bites down on my earlobe, making me go fucking hard right in front of the muffin-tonguing nimrod.

I shift, letting her feel just how much that excites me, which of course makes her chuckle into my ear.

“Are you two saying dirty things to each other?” OC asks, watching us with one brow raised and a whole lot of interest on his face.

Maple pulls away and says, “Just making promises if he’s a good boy.”

“I like the sound of that. What kind of promises? Maybe I can have some input.”

“Eat shit and rot,” I snap at him, causing him to lean back.

“Jesus. The anger issues are unbecoming,” OC says and then holds the pastry box to Maple. “Muffin?”

“I’d love one.” She smiles and takes one, unwrapping it while wetting her lips.

Fuck…

Am I really that much of a sucker for her that I’ll do anything to make her happy? To make me happy?

She lifts a piece of the muffin to my lips and gently inserts it into my mouth, leaving her fingers for me to suck on for a moment before she drags them away from my lips.

Yup.

I’d do just about anything.

Fuck.

“Fine,” I grumble. “I’ll do it.”